Metro North Rotary

Home Page Stories

The Rotary Foundation helps fund our humanitarian activities, from local service projects to global initiatives. Our club applies for grants from the Foundation to invest in projects at Metro High School and our international projects. Grants received from the Foundation have to be matched with club funds, which come from our Zombie Prom fundraising efforts. These grants are vital to funding our club’s projects!

Rotary Direct makes giving easy! Complete the Rotary Direct enrollment form or enroll by phone at +1-866-976-8279. You can give monthly, quarterly or annually and as little as $10. Last tax season I reviewed my charitable giving and decided to become a Paul Harris Society Member by giving $85 per month. There are lots of asks out there of us all. The multiplier effect of my donation was a huge factor in my decision to give to this great cause.

October 24th is the date for our signature rotary event in 2015. This event is what provides the means to complete the amazing projects that help at risk youth both in our community and abroad. We are proud to be able to put together an event that is unique to Cedar Rapids and raises funds to allow us to do such great things. Without it, we would have to find another way to raise money for our international exchange program, various projects at Metro High and the CR Boys and Girls Club, and the work we have done for children in Africa.

The event is an adult only Halloween party themed as Zombie Prom and goes from 8pm-12am. This year we are doing a celebrity theme, so people are encouraged to dress as a Zombified celebrity, however it is not required and we would love to have anyone attend who just wants to come be a part of a night of giving. There will be music, dancing, food and drink, a make up artist, games, a photo booth, and a Zombie Queen and King contest.

I have heard great feedback on the last two events. People really love that we are doing something different. We grew from 200 people to 300 from year one to year two, and intend on taking that up another 100 this year. We have a great committee that meets every month and works very well together to be sure this event runs smoothly. Everything from decorations to fundraising it taken care of by fabulous individuals willing to put their time and effort into making this a great event so we can support our community.

The Social Committee is busy working on the 2015 MNR Golf Outing. This year’s event takes place Thursday, August 6th and will once again be at Hunter’s Ridge golf course. Last year’s event was marred by rain which eliminated the first try and limited golfers to a handful of holes in try #2. But the rain didn’t keep the fun away.

What folks might not know about the golf outing is that the extra funds that are raised go directly towards the MNR Holiday party. So the more golfers we have, the more holes we have sponsored, the more mulligans we sell, the more money we have to use for our annual year-end fiesta.

In year’s past the event has lost money but under the leadership of Janice Novick, the last few years we have been able to turn a fairly decent return and were able to ramp up the fun at the last two Frosty Fiestas.

We would love to have you join us in August for this year’s golf outing. Hope to see you there!

Our committee has two main areas of oversight, The Exchange Student Program and also the International Projects Program.

For the Exchange Student Program, we are excited to learn that we have another student lined up for next year. Our student is from Japan and we are in the process of securing host families. We have one host family at this time, the school district will be Linn Mar. It is critical that we line up our host families in the near future. The project we are working on involves connecting with entities outside of Rotary to source the host families. As the host family does not need to be involved in Rotary, we are reaching out to other groups to plant the seed and hopefully garner support for the program. We would ask that each MNR member think of a group they belong to outside of Rotary, who the best contact may be for that group, and then pass it along to a committee member so that we can connect with them.

For the International Project side of the committee. Jack Hardin would like to go to Senegal later this year to continue his good work and he has made the initial contact overseas to start the process. He will let us know what we can do to support this effort. Patti also has a project in Nicaragua that we could team up with Habitat for Humanity on. Our area of focus right now is understanding the Rotary Global Grant. Patti & Brian are currently researching the Rotary Global Grant as an additional level support for our projects. As a club, we have never applied for the Global Grant. With a grant levels starting at $30,000, we could support a much larger project than in the past.

This past month at our annual Metro High School Teacher Appreciation Luncheon, the Speakers Committee was pleased to donate a book in honor of each guest speaker to the Metro High School Library for the 2014-15 Rotary calendar year. The Speakers Committee is in charge of obtaining a list of books, purchasing, and labelling the books for donation. We were able to donate 33 books this year. Upon donation to the Metro High School Library, Kirstin Miller from Metro mentioned that “It’s through community groups that we receive new books each year so thank you again for your support of Metro!”

With the change in our Club President comes the change in Speaker’s Committee Chairs. Introducing Sam Hammes as your new Committee Chair for 2015-16. Sam is actively working on lining up speakers. We value your input and want to offer the most intriguing speaker line-up to date to continue to engage and entertain our membership. Our challenge to you, the member: Think of past speakers and topics you’ve enjoyed (or maybe haven’t enjoyed as much) and send your speaker suggestions to Sam (SHammes@truenorthcompanies.com). A big round of applause to Sandi Lafferty and Cristiane AbouAssaly for being the speaker scheduling wizards for the 2014-2015 calendar year! Your work is much appreciated.

Right now, we’re in the middle of planning our club’s signature project for 2015 (the Metro High School Library).

We have met with the staff at Metro High School, and they have identified and prioritized the list of tasks that our Rotary Group will lead, including:

• Brightening up the Commons/Library with a fresh coat of paint.

• Creating a “think tank” space within the commons area.

• Adding new furniture.

We are in the process of putting all of the bids together and are hopeful we can accomplish the majority of the project within our allotted budget. Once that is complete and approved by the board, we’ll be looking for volunteers from the club for the remodel. More updates to come!

Rotary Links

RSS

August is Membership and New Club Development Month, which means it's time to celebrate your Rotary club, your members, and the good you do in your community and around the world.
Make the most of your membership. Here's how.
Learn more about Rotary Global Rewards, a new member benefit program that offers discounts on products and services – travel, hotels, car rentals, dining, and entertainment. Visit the Member Center.
Identify a need in your community and work with your club to design a hands-on project that addresses it.
Learn how to apply for a grant to implement a project.
Know a young...

As part of several recent updates to My Rotary, we've launched Delegation, a new tool that will help you carry out your responsibilities more efficiently. If you have a club, district, or regional role, you can now delegate your role-based access in Rotary.org with fellow Rotary members so that you can share tasks and responsibilities to better serve your club. See an example of the Delegation landing page.
Go to My Rotary to learn how it works. If you have questions, contact us at rotarysupportcenter@rotary.org.

Kick off Membership and New Club Development Month by participating in a Twitter chat with Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko on 5 August at 10:30 Chicago time (UTC-5). Get tips and resources for gaining members and becoming more involved in your club. Share your own ideas and expertise on how Rotary members can encourage their friends to join. Use #RotaryChat to participate and follow @Rotary and @JohnHewko.

Today marks one year since Nigeria last reported a polio case caused by wild poliovirus, putting the country on the brink of eradicating the paralyzing disease.
The last case was reported on 24 July 2014 in the northern state of Kano. If no cases are reported in the coming weeks, the World Health Organization is expected to remove Nigeria from the list of countries where polio is endemic, leaving just two: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Nigeria is the last polio-endemic country in Africa. The continent is poised to reach its own first full year without any illness from the virus on 11 August.
“...

From the August 2015 issue of The Rotarian
What's the worst that could happen? For most of us, that's a simple question. We might be late for a train. We might miss out on a promotion, or even lose a job. But for some, the worst is unimaginably worse. An unfortunate few endure what Ani Kalayjian calls "true trauma." War. Fire. Flood. A daughter disappears. A son contracts Ebola. When faced with such disasters, "people feel anger, guilt, sadness, frustration – feelings that can poison the body and spirit," says Kalayjian, a trauma specialist at Columbia University. "Trauma survivors may think...